Did a lot of mods to the bike over the winter. It now has a problem it didnt have last fall. It wiggles at over 30 mph. I dont notice the bars moving at all. I even did some bump tests, push one side of the bar to see what it does. It straightens right up after the handle bar bump. The wiggle feels exactly like a skinny tire over rain grooves. I dont have a skinny tire and this is on smooth, rain groove free roads.

The mods I did were a vulcan wide glide, 16X3 mag spoked wheel in front (reason for the vulcan) and 16X3 solid mag wheel in back. 5X16 vintage tires front and rear which I had on my old setup last year. 13" RK shocks with 1.75" lowering blocks to keep it at stock height. My 48 forks would not work with the vulcan kit so I used the forks off my 883. With those longer forks to keep the bike level the forks stick through the upper clamp 1.25".

Things Ive tried. When I had the tires swapped from old wheels to new the tire guy got the front and rear mixed up. The cokers are non-directional so I didnt think it mattered. But that rear tire that was now on front had worn the center flat........almost looked like a car tire. I thought that was the reason for the wiggle. You can see how flat it looked in this pic.



Instead of taking both wheels off again to get them swapped I got a new front. Its another vintage 5X16 but its an Indian as opposed to the original coker/beck.



Still wiggled after the new tire. I tried increasing tire pressure, that did help the most out of everything I tried but the wiggle is still there. Im at 40 front and back, not sure I should go more. Readjusted belt tension thinking it might be binding up, slack is just over 1/2" now, alignment is good....still wiggles. I didnt re-check stem bearing torque because Id have to remove the bars and its a pain. But when I put it together I did torque it to spec and did a fall away test which it passed. The last thing I tried was since I have a good amount of fork sticking through the clamps, I lowered them about 1/4". The bike definitely sits nose high now. That helped a very small amount...........but still wiggles.

The only other thing I can think of is Im not running a fender. But Ive heard many running without that dont have wiggle problems. I cant put a fender on till I make some brackets for them......could that be the problem?

I know Ive done a lot to screw up the stock geometry of the bike but was hoping somone might have some suggestions.

 

Rear wheel is aligned properly?

 

Definitely a lot of things making it hard to pin point, my first thoughts were the lack of fender though. It's true that a lot of people run without one but maybe because you're running the wide front end with those forks that could be the problem? Also, is the oil level good in them?

 

Yeah I realigned that when I loosened the belt a bit.

Didnt check the oil in the forks. But they were fine when they were on the 883.

 

Can't speak from experience, but they say a fork brace dramatically improves the forks when encountering rain groves, steel grate bridges, and under hard riding conditions. I have to believe that massive front tire and it's fresh tread is finding all kinds of surface imperfections to follow. Maybe a brace would do the trick. I know one is on my shopping list with just the stock tire size.

BTW - I love your bike, the theme, the brown leather, all of it. Bad A$$